I take my dog Remington with me pretty much everywhere, weather permitting. Including the laundromat. So we often meet people, and I frequently have folks wanting to pet/play with him. I'm a lot less trusting than my boy, so I'm generally very cautious about who gets the okay to do so. Today, though, I met a woman and there wasn't even a question. As I was sorting the clothes, I hear 'why, hello there' and I looked up automatically to respond. she gave me a sheepish smile and told me that actually, she was talking to the dog. She then proceeded to tell me about her dog, Harley, that she lost a year ago, after having had him for 14 years. His previous owner, a friend of a fried of a friend of hers, had issues with drugs and alcohol and abused him. others saw this and stepped in, and then went looking for a home for him, and Xena (the woman's name) stepped up and said yes. She's been missing him more the last couple months, since she just moved to a new place that doesn't allow pets of any kind, and before that, she lived with her sister and her sister's pets, who'd helped to ease the ache when Harley passed. She spent close to 40 minutes petting and loving on Remington, and Remington certainly wasn't objecting to it!

I've had people ask me why I take him with me, especially in the summer and on the super cold days in winter, when my time has to be very carefully monitored to make sure he doesn't get too hot or cold in the car -- this is why. He never fails to bring joy wherever he goes, not just to me, but to the random people that we meet. he makes me happy every day, and I'm so lucky and grateful to have him in my life.

This is very true. My dogs come with me most of the time as well, and even sitting at a traffic light we'll see people waving at the dogs, talking to them through open windows or generally just smiling from ear to ear. It is nice to see our furbabies brighten the day of people even just in passing by.